Lunchtime news Tuesday 29 April 2023

Complaints about military accommodation are growing according to the Army Families Federation (AFF), a support group for British service personnel. The federation says that 59.4 per cent of more than one thousand calls it received last year were about housing, compared with just 39 per cent in 2005. The AFF blames the fact that there are no longer wardens looking after military housing estates, and when soldiers are away it can leave families feeling vulnerable.

Two elderly sisters have lost their final appeal to the European Court of Human Rights over paying a massive inheritance tax bill. The sisters, aged 90 and 82 have lived together in Marlborough all their lives and appealed to the European Court to be recognised under the tax rules as a cohabiting couple, saying the Human Rights Convention articles guarantee ‘protection of property’. It means that when one of them dies, the other will have to pay the 40 per cent inheritance tax on their property. The sisters have written to the chancellor after every budget since 1976 to request a change in their status.

More housing figures out today, with the Land Registry showing that the annual rate of house price growth has slowed for the seventh month in a row in England and Wales, down to 3.6 per cent in March compared with 5.3 per cent in February. Month on month figures show a 0.4 per cent decrease. The Land Registry figures are calculated from the sale prices of properties in England and Wales, rather than lenders’ data.

And Hometrack, the property research website, says that there has been a 0.9 per cent slump in the average price of a home from a year ago. The ‘highly symbolic’ drop could lead to negative equity problems and is the first price index showing house prices falling on an annual basis. Homes are now staying on the market for a record 9.1 weeks before selling, and sellers are taking a 7 per cent cut in asking prices.

It’s now the turn of the HBOS group to announce plans to raise £4 billion of extra funding from a right issue to its existing shareholders. Following the Royal Bank of Scotland’s decision to raise £12 billion last week, HBOS, the most widely-held UK share, said the extra funding would allow it to grow internationally and invest in residential mortgage and savings business. ‘HBOS is not forecasting a meltdown in the economy… But because of the instability of global financial markets… HBOS has decided to reinforce its hull against the risk of hitting an iceberg.’